We do not know the exact mandate Tito Mboweni was given when he had to rapidly replace Nhlanhla Nene as finance minister in early October.
In various media engagements after his appointment, Mboweni made it clear that he had to be talked into the job as his preference was to remain in the private sector and be unconstrained in his random musings as a Twitter luminary.
The finance minister’s position in the cabinet is unlike any other. If you do not know what you are doing, it will chew you up and spit you out.
It is a beleaguered portfolio, made even worse by the awful economic climate and a government that is short on ideas about how to reverse the decline.